The Enchanted Storm
by RedRosenberg
Summary: After a storm something happens to Willow... hah that's all you get :P


The wind howled through the windows rattling them on its way. A shivering golden haired girl lay wrapped tightly in her blankets trying to sleep. "Oh, where is my Willow," she thought to herself. "It's soo... horrible out." A worried look spread across her face as she sat up quickly, pulling herself out of bed and rushing to the window in hope that maybe she'd see her love returning safely home.   
  
The girl sighed as she saw nobody approaching the house. She was all alone. The storm was getting worse and her girlfriend was no where to be seen. The lights began to flicker. "Oh, this can't be good," she said to herself nervously while collecting candles and placing them around the room. The lights finally stopped flickering and left the blond surrounded by the pitch black of the night, but not for long as she struck a match and lit her wicks. Hours passed by and the blonde had fallen asleep on the floor by the candles.   
  
The door flew open and a red head struggled to shut it behind her. Soaking wet as if someone had attempted to drown her, she peeled off her coat and hung it on the back of a nearby chair. Grabbing a towel from a fresh pile of washing, she attempted to dry off. The girl looked around the room. Noticing the only light was from half burned candles, she began to explore the house, peering around each doorway she whispered nervously, "Tara?" With no reply, she decided to take herself upstairs to find dry clothes before catching up on some sleep. She crept up the stairs and entered her bedroom. She opened the closet and pulled out her girlfriend's favourite pair of Sponge Bob pyjamas and began to change.   
  
The pyjama clad girl yawned and climbed into bed. "Ahh, now this is comfy," she thought as a tired smile spread over her blushed face. She closed her eyes. A sigh floated across the room and kissed the sleepy girl's ears as her eyes opened suddenly. "What was that..." she thought in fright as another sound let itself be heard. Nervously, the girl pulled herself up with the courage to lean over the side of the bed. She smiled with relief before her eyes widened with concern. "Tara?" she whispered on seeing her blond haired girlfriend curled up by candle light. "I soo did not see her!" She laughed to herself reaching down to gently poke the sleeping girl "Hey..." she whispered. Getting no response other than a sleepy moan, she slid off the bed and sat beside her love, she smiled lovingly as she watched her sleep. The red head yawned and lay down beside Tara, sliding her arm round the blonde's waist snuggling up and falling to sleep almost right away.   
  
The morning sun shone its rays through the window and bathing the two sleeping girls in its warm light. Tara yawned and opened her eyes, noticing a small hand resting on her tummy. "Willowhand," she smiled to herself following the hand's trail up its arm over its shoulder to a sleeping red heads face. "Willow..." she sighed, "I knew she'd come." Willow began to wake due to the feeling of soft eyes on her.   
  
"Hey you," she yawned.   
"Hi..." Tara smiled planting a kiss on Willow's head. "I'm going to make pancakes," Tara said pulling herself up. "I feel like making us pancakes!"   
"I will take a shower then," Willow smiled following her love out into the hall way.   
"You have to tell me about last night when you're done," Tara said.   
"I will... it was scary!" Willow replied giving her best puppy eyes.   
"Aww..." Tara laughed in sympathy as she leaned forward and kissed her girlfriend's hand. "I'll be back up in a second and maybe we can talk about it in there..." Tara smirked eyeing the shower.   
Willow smirked back giggling, "Vixen," and dissapeared into the bathroom.   
  
A few minutes passed. The house was filled with the sweet smell of maple syrup coating freshly cooked pancakes. Tara climbed the stairs wondering why the shower wasn't running yet. She smirked to herself and thought perhaps Willow was waiting for her. "Will?" she called as she approached the bathroom door. Without a reply, she called out again, "Willow?" Once more she was greeted with no answer. Tara began to worry, her pace getting faster as she rushed to find out what might be wrong. She pushed the bathroom door open, and her mouth dropped. Standing in front of her was a small child of three years old drowned in Willow's clothes. Tara stepped back as though she was afraid of the little girl. "Uh... W... Willow?" She stuttered. The child blinked and said in a tiny voice, "Willow is me."   
  
Tara stepped back once more trying to catch her breath. Her once sexy vixen was now a tiny innocent child. 'What could possibly have happened,' she thought to herself. Tara reached out to the tiny Willow and took her by the hand. "We have to find you some clothes," she said as she tried to act normally for the childs sake. After all, flipping out wasn't going to work out how to fix this terrible mistake.   
  
Tara rummaged through her closet trying to find the smallest t-shirt she owned that might pass for a dress on the little Willow, who sat behind her on the bed still drowned in regular Willow's 'Kitty' t-shirt. "Goddess," Tara mumbed to herself, "I am so stupid. I'm a witch, why would I make the poor child wear baggy Willow clothes when I can just do a spell!" As she turned around, Tara blurted out a few latin words. The child's red hair changed to blue. "Oh dear!" Tara shrieked, "I must be honest..." she smiled. "I've never had to conjure kiddie clothes." Tara fixed the little girl's hair and finally worked out how to conjure an outfit. "There you go," she said proudly, grinning at the little girl who was now wearing a pretty red dress. "You look very cute, but not in a regular Willow way because that would be very weird... like this... this is very weird!!"   
  
The phone rang and Tara quickly picked it up motioning to little Willow to stay quiet. She couldn't help but laugh to herself for being silly, for the child had said a whole three words since she had appeared. Even those were in the softest tone.   
  
"Hello?" Tara said.   
"It's Anya," a voice said back.   
"Oh, Hi Anya!" Tara smiled.   
"Yes. Giles wants you and Willow to come to the Magic Box for a meeting about Buffy's birthday," Anya said.   
"But..." Tara began only to be interrupted by Anya.   
"No excuses! Bring money... and a friend each if you want to... do you have other friends? As long as they're not bunnies, they are very welcome..."   
"Anya..."   
"Ok, bye now!"   
  
The line went dead and Tara placed the phone back down. "Oh no..." Tara sighed looking at little Willow, who giggled at Tara's misfortunes. "Hey!" Tara laughed, "wait til your big again... you'll take a beating for that!" she joked. The child was not amused and began to cry. "Ohh, no, no!!" Tara said trying to hush the child. "I was only joking... I would never!"   
  
Tara walked into the Magic Box holding little Willow's hand.   
"Hey," she said as Buffy came over to greet her."  
"Wheres Will?" she asked.   
"Uh... she... W... Willow wasn't feeling too well, so she didn't come along," Tara stuttered.   
"Oh... should I call her?" Buffy asked with a worried look in her eyes.   
"No! I mean... no," Tara smiled. "She'll be sleeping."   
"Ok," Buffy said, "I'll maybe come and see her later!" Tara blushed with worry and nodded.   
"And who is this!" Xander said approaching Tara and the little red head.   
"This is... uh... this is my neice... W... Emma," Tara stumbled.   
"Well hi Wemma," Xander smiled. "Wanna come and eat mud cake with me?" His eyes lit up with the child's.   
"Yes!!" she shrieked and dissapeared into the shop with Xander.   
"Soo," Buffy said in a sussing tone, "you so do not have a neice."   
"I... I meant... well you see, there is this friend, in Wicca group... she's hers and wellm we're so buddy, buddy that... um... Emma calls me aunty... and, and..." Tara said blushing.   
"It's ok Tara... you dont have to give me her life story. I just didnt know you had close friends with... uh, kids and that kinda funky stuff," Buffy smiled reasuringly.   
"Uh, yeah..." Tara smiled nervously.   
  
Xander sat at the table with Anya and the little girl who was tucking into a bowl of mud cake that Anya had baked earlier that day.   
"She better not eat it all," Anya scowled.   
"She won't," Xander said. "She's too small to fit the whole cake in!"   
"She seems to be doing well with that slice. It's almost bigger than her and she is scoffing it down like tomorrow will never feed her!" Anya snapped giving the child evil looks. "Do you like bunnies?" she asked her.   
"Yes!!" The little girl smiled.   
"That's it! She can't stay!" Anya shrieked.   
"Don't be silly An," Xander smiled, "its not like she bought a bunny with her."  
  
Little Willow sat eating the last of her mud cake.   
"She reminds me of the Willster," he smiled remembering. "We would always eat mud cake... she could always eat the most... you'd never believe it now, but oh, did Will eat!"   
"She reminds me of a rat," Anya said. "A little scrappy rat that eats all the dirty crumbs and bugs left in-between the floor tiles by messy humans."   
Xander gave her an odd look and smiled in amusement. "So Wemma..." he said.   
"Do you like my shop?" Anya asked.   
The little girl looked around and grinned, "Yes..."   
"Good," Anya said, "I can show you magical things, merchandise... would you like to see some merchandise?" The little girl giggled at Anya and held out her hand. "Oh no," Anya began "I can't hold your grubby little hand... I've heard that children never wash them... that would be very dirty of me." She pushed the child towards the counter and wiped her hands off on her dress.   
  
"This is the cash register, something you must never touch, unless you want me to eat you alive," Anya warned the child jokingly. Again, the little girl didn't find it funny and began to cry. "Make it stop!" Anya yelled. "It's making a horrible sound Xander! Make it stop!!"   
Xander sat with a blank look on his face as Tara rushed to the rescue, "What did you do to her?" she demanded.   
"Nothing... it just started making a terrible noise!" Anya explained.   
Tara gave Anya an angry look and picked the little red head up, "Hey, don't be sad." She smiled wiping away her tears, "That's just Anya... she's a little strange... not everyone's like that, anyway, she's not even scary anymore."  
  
Giles rubbed his forehead and scanned the book in front of him. "Sorry, I didn't plan on Buffy actually being here. I thought we could have a chat about what to do for her birthday. I think she deserves a special one this year," he whispered to Xander.   
"That's fine, we can talk about it later when she's off mauling hairy demons."   
"Indeed," Giles smiled.   
"Is it done now?" Anya asked Tara refering to little Willow.   
"Yes..." Tara said frowning at Anya. "And she's not an 'it', she's a 'she' and she's my baby!"   
The Scoobies eyes widened as Tara's words hit their ears. "You're what?" Buffy asked confused.   
"Her baby!" Anya repeated. "She said it was her baby... she has a child!! But wait... she can't because she is a lesbian... unless she cheated..." Anya's eyes grew wider and her mouth dropped. "YOU!! You cheated with a penis and created life!" she accused.   
  
Tara was not amused. She stood with her arms crossed trying to be mad, but instead blushed knowing her Willow (well, regular Willow) wasn't around to support her if she got herself into a conflict.   
"Uh... An," Xander said with his mouth wide open. "I... I don't think she meant THAT kinda baby..."   
He pointed, and everyone followed his finger in direction only to be met with the tiny red head giggling away while floating a pencil infront of her.   
"OH my God!" Buffy shrieked.   
"Dear Lord," Giles followed.   
"No wonder she reminded me of her... she IS her!!" Xander said still standing with his mouth wide open and his finger pointing.   
  
A few minutes passed and the shock settled.   
"Willow..." Buffy said approaching the little girl, "come with me..." she said holding out her hand.   
"I can't believe you lied to us," she said to Tara.   
"I... I thought I could fix it..." Tara stuttered.   
"Well, you can't, can you?" Xander snapped.   
"I h... haven't really... t... tried," Tara explained nervously, "it only just happened b... before Anya called and we had to come h... here..."   
"It's ok," Giles said patting Tara's shoulder. "We'll sort it out. Buffy, you take care of... um Willow... and the rest of us will search for a possible explanation."   
"Ok..." Buffy sighed, "come on Willow... I've got lots of pencils over here. You can teach me how to float them!"   
"Yay!" Little Willow giggled running off with Buffy.  
  
Giles and the remaining Scoobies flipped through books in search for a cure. Hours passed, and they were already on their third Willow sitter, Xander. "I like little Willow!" he laughed flying her around the shop under his arm as she giggled away.   
"Ah!" Giles said as he discovered something worth discovering. "I've found it... or at least... yes, I think so" he began.   
"Well, what is it?" Tara and Buffy asked in unison.   
"The Enchanted rain... of course!"   
"Of course," Buffy said rolling her eyes.   
"Tara, was Willow by any chance out in the storm last night?" Giles asked the blonde.   
"Yes... yes she was!" she replied pleased with the news that Giles had information on transform-ing the child into her love again. "She was going to a late Wicca class to catch up on things since... you know, she wasn't able to go for a while..." Tara explained. "And I'm not sure when she got home because I fell alseep... b... but when I woke this morning she was there... and, and... it wasn't until around 9am that she became... well. little."   
"Right," Giles said cleaning his glasses and replacing them on his nose ready to read the cure from his book. "A child of enchanted rain must be bathed in enchanted rain once more to return to their natural looks," he read.   
"Oh..." Xander said. "Well, how do we know when this funky stuff falls from the heavens?" he asked.   
"Well..." Giles began, "it falls over the three days of the full moon. Yesderday was the first, so tonight the ritual can take place, but we need an experienced witch. Usually, I'd ask Willow, but obviously this time it's not possible to. Are you up to it Tara?" he asked.   
"Oh yes!" Tara smiled, excited at being nominated for such a task.   
"Good," Giles smiled, "we'll meet in the park tonight."  
  
Darkness fell upon Sunnydale. Tara walked through the streets carrying a sleeping child. She approached the park and saw the rest of the gang.   
"Here, I bought this," Buffy said handing Tara a blanket.   
"What does she need that for?" Anya asked.   
"She needs it because she told me Willow was still wearing her outfit from before she shrank... and that little number, however cute, is not going to fit when she reforms to normal Willow size, now is it!" she explained.   
"Good call" Xander smiled, "we're not ready for naked Willow."   
"Hey!" Tara snapped. "Naked Willow is very beautiful."   
"Images! Totally not needed," Buffy said.   
"Right lets get started," Giles told them.   
  
Tara placed the little red head under the blanket and cast her spell. It began to rain and the Scoobies sheltered themselves until the shower was over. Willow appeared back good as new, although a little confused.   
"What happened?" she asked.   
"I'll tell you later," Tara smiled giving her blanket clad girlfriend a big cuddle.   
  
Willow and Tara laid in bed, a candle flickering, as they gazed at the ceiling adorned with glow- in-the-dark stick on stars.   
"Aren't they pretty?" Willow smiled geekily.   
"Not as pretty as you," Tara said softly, planting a kiss on Willows lips.   
"Do you want to come to wicca group with me tomorrow night?" Willow asked.   
"You're not going out in the third night of enchanted rains, missy." Tara laughed.   
"Ohh yes, I forgot!" Willow giggled, "We'd have to wait forever until the next full moon to turn me back again!" She smiled.   
"Although little Willow was adorable..." Tara began, "I can't help but prefere the mature, fully- grown, sassy version."   
"Well, of course!" Willow laughed. "Let me show you just how sassy grown up Willow is..." She smirked and blew out the candle.


End file.
